Dehai News

(Xinhua) Ethiopia says it has no information on border restrictions imposed by Eritrea

Posted by: Semere Asmelash

Date: Friday, 28 December 2018

Ethiopia says it has no information on border restrictions imposed by Eritrea

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-28 00:53:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan

ADDIS ABABA (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Thursday it has no information on border restrictions imposed by neighboring Eritrea.

Speaking to local and foreign media outlets, Meles Alem, Spokesperson at MoFA, said the Ethiopian government has no information on reports Eritrea has severely restricted movement of people and goods from Ethiopia to Eritrea.

"I have no information regarding reports Eritrea has restricted movement of people from Ethiopia to Eritrea, I will verify the information and get back to you," said Alem.

Recently, reports coming out of Ethiopia said Eritrea has imposed restrictions on one border point - the Rama-Adi-Quala border crossing.

There has been no immediate remark from Eritrean and Ethiopian officials on the reasons behind the restrictions on Ethiopian travelers planning to cross to Eritrea.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki re-opened the two countries common border on September 11, more than 20 years after it was shut with the outbreak of bloody war between the two nations.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000, leaving an estimated 70,000 people dead from both sides, before a December 2000 Algiers peace agreement ended the war. However, the two countries had remained in a state of armed standoff until recently.

On June 5, the executive committee of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), passed a decision expressing commitment to an unconditional implementation of Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea.

Eritrea gave a positive response to Ethiopia's peace gesture two weeks later, and ever since then a series of rapid diplomatic moves has seen Ahmed and Afwerki visit their respective countries in July, formally ending two decades of mutual animosity.

The rapid diplomatic thaw between the two countries has also seen Ethiopia and Eritrea restore air links, telephone lines, trade routes and re-open their respective diplomatic missions.